Threatening gestures is a sequence that shows the notion of Crash at many levels. First there are two confrontations, one between Peter and Anthony against Cameron and the other one between Cameron and the police. We can also see the collision between different stories in the movie, where multi-ethnic characters run into each other. Moreover the whole scene defines this notion by a reversal of situations where characters reveal unexpected reactions. Above all, this scene is the node which connects the main parts of the film just like a network.

In the opening scene we can see Cameron in his car touching his wedding ring. It refers to the quarrel he has just had with his wife.

Abruptly, the two car-jackers rush at him and point their guns up to his face, telling him to get out of the car. One of them hesitates when he discovers that the car owner is a black man. Actually, there is a paradox since the car-jackers said in a previous scene they would never rob black people.

For the first time Cameron has an opportunity to prove to himself that he is not the man his wife has described. A fight begins between them on the street while the police patrols the neighbourhood. One of the car-jackers, Peter, runs away, while Anthony heads towards the car as Cameron steps into the navigator behind the wheel. He starts the engine and begins to drive recklessly while being purchased by police cars. We can wonder what Cameron is running from, considering that he is the victim of the assault.

Eventually, they are trapped, cornered by police patrol cars in a peculiar dead-end, where a patio with an image of the birth of Jesus and a doll of Saint Nicholas. One would expect Cameron to force Anthony out of his car, since he is the victim in this whole affair, but the car-jacker ends up challenging the car owner to prove how brave he can be; "You so brave, you get outta the car man!"

At that precise moment, one of the many "chains of dominoes" of the movie is going to transform Cameron. A chain of dominoes being a succession of events that are related to each other, where a distant detail ends up provoking a tragedy. Think of it as the legendary Chaos Theory, where the subtle presence of an innocent butterfly in a mountain is actually the main cause of a hurricane in some island, hundreds of kilometres from there. A crescendo of stress, of little details that keep piling up.

To understand Cameron's reaction, we have to look up three capital moments that reflect the "chain of dominoes".

His wife has been molested by a cop, and he preferred not to defend her, just to avoid getting in trouble with the police. As a result his wife felt humiliated, losing all the respect she had towards her husband; "What I need is a husband who will not just stand there while I'm being molested." In that scene, Cameron at one point justifies his behaviour by saying how his wife does not know what it "really is to be black" in this society. But his wife ends up suggesting that he doesn't know either,  that in some way he's been trying to hide that from everyone: "Like you know! The closest you came by to being black, Cameron, was watching the Cosby show!". Cameron feels empty, humiliated, he has lost his wife's respect just for the sake of avoiding a conflict with a white policeman, being black justifying his submission.

Then, Cameron betrays his own convictions, his own artistic approach in his job. Again, "being black" plays a major role in. While playing a scene, the black actor speaks grammatically well, but Cameron's supervisor is not happy with this, because only white people can speak "correct English" whereas blacks have to speak their distorted language: "Have you noticed he's talking a lot less black lately? [..] Eddie's supposed to be the smart one, not Jamal (the black guy) right? […] It simply rings false."

Again, Cameron surrenders. It would seem that, according to him, and much to his dismay, being black justifies all this, all this humiliation being normal to a certain extent in this society, Black people being reduced to a bunch of stereotypes. Afterwards, Cameron meets with his wife. She seems depressed, and wants to find a solution, but she can't help saying something that deeply hurts her husband: "I just couldn't stand to see that man take away your dignity". Cameron realizes that he has been surrendering every time he should have defended himself, or his convictions.

And here we are, in the scene we are studying right before Cameron decides to step out of his car to confront the police. It's capital to bear in mind that all the episodes we studied have their influence in his behaviour when dealing with the cops: for the first time, he decides to act the way he wants, and not the way he is supposed to, just to avoid a conflict. His wife had told him how he'd forgotten what it was to be a black. As a result in this scene he adopts a very peculiar attitude, he reacts the way a "ghetto black guy" would react: his way of speaking, his manners, they have all changed, just to suit his will to "feel like a black". He is seeking in some way a personal redemption after being humiliated countless times.

This is when Officer Hanson, and his background, another chain of dominoes, is going to collide with Cameron. Previously, he has played a passive role in Cameron's humiliation when his wife was molested. He knew an injustice was being committed. So, when he meets Cameron, he decides to let him go with only a warning, to also redeem himself for not having done anything to prevent Cameron's previous humiliation.

Finally, it's interesting to study the setting of this scene: a patio with an image of the birth of Jesus next to a Santa Claus doll. This scene reflects a reversal of situation, when Officer Hanson decides to let Cameron go with only a harsh warning. Such a gesture can be associated with the "miracle of Christmas" a recurring atmosphere that encapsulates the whole movie.

Every character has committed a reprehensible act, but minutes later they achieve their redemption by acting in a generous and laudable way. This reflects the complexity of human nature, capable of the best, but also prone to adopt a negative demeanour. This particular scene encapsulates this message, but so do many others in this movie.

Only Paul Haggis himself could describe this idea. "If it can snow in Los Angeles, anything can happen. And that's what this movie is about, that we contain these possibilities within us, for good or for ill. I think it's a very hopeful movie, for that reason."

 Diaz, Medrano, Martini, Joachim